The present invention relates to a combine harvester with a threshing unit for threshing picked-up crop to obtain grain and a driver assistance system for controlling the threshing unit, where the driver assistance system comprises a memory for storing data and a computing unit for processing the data stored in the memory.
Combine harvesters are used for mowing and the threshing of grain. The threshing is carried out by a threshing unit, which obtains grain from the crop picked up by the combine harvester by a header. The grain, after threshing, separation and subsequent cleaning is fed to a grain tank. The chaff and the straw, for example, remain as further components of the crop and are either spread onto the field or, in the case of straw, can be set down as swath, e.g., to be subsequently picked up by a baler. Here and in the following, the term “crop” is intended to mean the entirety of the crop stream picked up by the threshing unit, i.e., including the grains that have not yet been obtained as grain from the crop and the grains that may remain in the crop stream as a loss and that may be deposited with the straw.
In the threshing unit, the grain is rubbed, i.e., threshed, out of the straw by a processing, which is rolling, in principle, and is separated from the remaining crop stream, so that it can be fed directly to the cleaning system. The remaining crop stream is then fed to the separation area in which the remaining grain is separated from the crop stream, e.g., by use of a straw-walker system, and is then likewise fed to the cleaning system.
There is an entire series of criteria, on the basis of which the quality of the threshing process can evaluated. First, preferably all the grain should be removed from the crop stream and fed to the grain tank, specifically with as few broken kernels as possible and with a minimal portion of material other than grain. Secondly, the straw also should not be damaged and, e.g., cut up, to such an extent that subsequent utilization is adversely affected. Third, the time required for the processing of a field should be short and the associated fuel consumption should be kept as low as possible. Further quality criteria are conceivable. Depending on the overall situation, in particular on the particular basic economic conditions, different quality criteria are paramount, which criteria collectively form a harvesting-process strategy for carrying out the harvesting process.
In order for the aforementioned quality criteria to be met, the threshing unit must be controlled in a certain manner, wherein this manner depends not only on the special quality criteria, but also on different conditions of the environment, of the combine harvester, of the threshing unit itself and on the type and composition of the crop. The prioritization of one quality criterion is usually a disadvantage for another quality criterion.
From the prior art, for example, EP 1 731 017 B2, it is known to provide a special control process in a control device for optimizing the threshing unit, i.e., a threshing-unit optimization process. When this control process is activated, it sets “optimal” threshing-unit settings on the threshing unit and then shuts off. This threshing-unit optimization process always runs in the same manner and uses the same settings. The activation of the threshing-unit optimization process furthermore shuts off a regulation process, which may be running at the time, for the ground speed of the combine harvester, so that said combine harvester cannot run simultaneously.
Also known is DE 10 2009 009 767 A1, which discloses a combine harvester comprising a driver assistance system that measures different variables (e.g., speed, concave width, grain losses) on the combine harvester and checks the variables to determine whether they pass into a critical value range or exceed or undershoot critical limit values. If these situations occur, the driver assistance system interactively communicates with the driver by proposing to the driver measures to take during the control of the threshing unit that are intended for moving out of the critical value range. The driver can then accept or reject these proposals, wherein, in a subsequent step, alternative proposals may be made to the driver, or the driver can specify the proposed measures more precisely by means of an entry.
A disadvantage of the known prior art is that, despite support by the driver assistance system, the driver must regularly provide multiple and, in fact, highly specific specifications for the continued regulation of the threshing unit. In some cases, after some time has passed since such a setting change was implemented, the driver also receives a query from the driver assistance system after the implemented change has taken effect. Overall, the driver is therefore relieved of manually implementing settings only to a certain extent and very high demands still are placed on the driver's attention. In addition, in order for desired quality criteria to be met, the driver must know the currently required measures and must have the agricultural knowledge in order to provide the specifications to the driver assistance system that lead to the objectives.